Bat-inspired hair sensor

We present the design of a directional airflow sensor inspired by the bat hair sensory system. The design is based on the integration of a MEMS structure with mechanical amplification of a deflecting hair on a suspended membrane together with differential sensing of parallel plate capacitors placed at the base of the hair. We describe the design and show simulations predicting that the structure is capable of detecting airspeeds of 0.5 m/sec in a directionally sensitive fashion. Furthermore, the structure is mechanically simple and inexpensive to fabricate. It has been integrated into a miniature form factor for deployment on the wing of a freely flying bat, and MEMS fabrication is currently underway.